In an apparent rebuke to Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, who led a blistering, no-holds-barred campaign against the Finance Ministry for not providing timely emergency funds for the capital’s beleaguered business owners’, the ministry insisted the NIS 100 million aid package be overseen by Barkat’s rival.

Upon announcing the agreement on Sunday, Finance Minister Moshe Khalon added the caveat that recently appointed Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin, whom Barkat has vocally denounced as impugning his authority, be in charge of the allocations.

Indeed, when Elkin’s position was announced in May, Barkat lambasted the “useless, ridiculous ministry” as an unnecessary layer of government bureaucracy and vowed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he would not report to Elkin.